Cornico and Daz Cat, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2025
The curved wall at Dean Lane has played host to so many fabulous pieces (and some not so fabulous). This collaboration from Conrico and Daz Cat is a wonderful piece, full of creativity and colour, with the two distinct styles coming together in great harmony.
Cornico and Daz Cat, Dean Lane, Bristol, February 2025
The left hand side of the wall belongs to Conrico, who has written his name in one of his familiar landscapes, with a distant monster that might be Godzilla emerging from the stylised choppy sea. To the right, Daz Cat has painted a sage-like old fish/axolotl type character watches on as if he might have the answer to an unknown question. Is that an orange platypus in his packet? Lots of stories in this brilliant collaboration.
Conrico is a very unusual street artist. He appears to be equally comfortable with graffiti writing or characters or landscapes and so on, always appearing to tell stories in his work. Much of his art and creativity is influenced by Japanese culture, and his spray technique looks much more like brush work than spray-painting. He is quite unique.
Conrico, Purdown, Bristol, January 2025
This piece was painted in three hours and features an Asian lady in an American diner – I found out this information from his Instagram feed. The piece is based on a photograph of Minami Yuzuzu, a Japanese actress/popular figure? His blend of cultures and special style has created a special and imaginative piece, not the sort of thing you might expect to see walking the dog through a WWII gun emplacement (unless you lived in Bristol).
Conrico, Acer One and Andy Council, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2024
You might be able to detect that I have been rooting around in my archives again, which I like to do every once in a while, because there are so many pieces that I’d like to share, but that get left behind. How this amazing collaboration from Conrico, Acer One and Andy Council ever got omitted I’ll never know, but I am making up for it now.
Conrico and Acer One, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2024Conrico and Acer One, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2024
The three part piece is a wonderful co-creation in which all the distinctive elements come together seamlessly. The landscape background with hints of an oriental coastal scene is by Conrico and creates a wonderful setting for the letters of Acer One, that spell out WABI SABI in two sections either side of the centrepiece by Andy Council,
Andy Council, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2024
The central portrait of a roaring tiger has everything you’d expect from a piece by Andy council where each of the elements of the tiger are ‘stitched’ together to form a coherent and, frankly, stunning whole. I think that the rose pink clouds emphasising the tiger head were painted by Conrico. The overall collaboration is a triumph of three very different styles coming together to create something truly excellent.
In the furthest southern tip of the Brunel Way spot, is a DIY skate spot and this wonderful recent combination piece from Conrico brightened up this dark spot. It is usually pretty tatty around this wall, where materials for building ramps etc. for the skate park are scattered.
Conrico, Brunel Way, Bristol, November 2024
The writing is nicely done, set on a swirly patterned background, but it is definitely the portrait accompanying the writing that catches the eye. I think that it is the woman’s hair which draws the eye – it is a really nice and happy portrait. Not long after Conrico painted the combination piece, the council came along and buffed the wall, although they decided to keep the portrait, which is curious really, because it is all illegal graffiti.
Conrico, Brunel Way, Bristol, November 2024
I believe that the buffing is done by gangs of people doing community service for some misdemeanour or other. The problem, of course, is that this is a completely fruitless exercise, and waste of grey paint, because a buffed wall is a blank canvass.
This gorgeous story piece from Conrico somehow slipped under my radar, so on one of my routine visits to the Cycle path behind the Black Swan, I was thrilled to stumble across it. The Japanese street scene is full of atmosphere and ordinary life, with a woman cuddling a cat in the foreground.
Conrico, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, October 2024
Conrico’s style looks more like a paint brush painting than anything created with a spray can, which says a lot about his application style of short bursts like brush strokes. His love affair with Japan and Japanese culture may seem at odds with Bristol culture, but is in fact a refreshing perspective and part of the amazing spectrum of work artwork we see in the city. I love this low-key piece.
Kool Hand, Conrico, Pekoe and The Art of Sok, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2024
This year, Dean Lane has hosted a whole bunch of Halloween pieces, and this is the largest of the lot. The festive collaboration is from a line up of artists I would never have expected, and I don’t think that they have painted as a foursome together before. Kool Hand, Conrico, Pekoe and the Art of Sok have brought four distinctive styles together in this eclectic celebration.
Kool Hand, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2024
Kool Hand starts the wall off with one of his customary baseball cap-wearing orangutans, although there is a touch of menace about the ape. Usually Kool Hand’s characters are rather fun, but this one is sinister, with bloodshot eyes missing pupils and a maggot crawling out of its nose. There is nice use of solid tones bringing light and shadow, and hence depth, to the piece.
Conrico, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2024
I have no idea what is going on in the Conrico piece, but it looks like a werewolf-type character is leaning against a gravestone on which the words “Here lies graveyard shift… a very naughty…” You’ll have to make up the rest yourself. The character is clutching a carved pumpkin and the whole thing is set in a Japanese landscape. Curious and wonderful.
Pekoe, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2024
Next up is a great piece of writing from Pekoe in an altogether lighter style, where each of the letters is painted in an individual design and colour scheme. The ghost forming the letter ‘O’ is the obvious concession to the Halloween theme. Over the last couple of years, Pekoe’s writing has improved immeasurably and her confidence with it… you can sense there is an ease and comfort with the creation of this piece.
The Art of Sok, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2024
Finally, something evil from The Art of Sok. I have seen plenty of cartoon characters from the artist, but nothing quite like this. The monster looks like some kind of orc-inspired creature and provides edge to the collaboration. The Art of Sok’s style is so clean and crisp… There is a simplicity in his use of solid fills that betray incredible sophistication and skill, transferring cartoon-book sketches onto full sized walls. All in all a superb and varied collection of Halloween pieces from the quartet.
It has been a real pleasure to see that Conrico has been on fire this summer, both in terms of his output and the quality of his work. This piece was painted as part of a paint jam celebrating Werm’s Birthday. In his Instagram post Conrico used the hashtags #cowboy and #highplainsdrifter, which I think tells you something about the piece.
Conrico, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, August 2024
His graffiti writing/character combinations have been rather good lately, and this one is a great addition to his portfolio. Lots of swirls and atmosphere has been created with his paintbrush style of spraying. The cowboy is also beautifully painted.
Conrico, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, August 2024
There is an organic feel to Conrico’s work that is quite different from some of the more stylised and manicured characters that we see a lot of in the city. A very nice piece indeed.
Conrico has been so productively lately with commissions, painting walls and the Cheltenham Paint Festival. It is lucky really that he is so passionate about what he does and that he really enjoys it. He is currently going full tilt on his Japanese influenced pieces, including this lovely landscape/writing combo.
Conrico, New Stadium Road, Bristol, July 2024
Conrico has a great story behind his moniker, which is essentially a school corruption of his name which has stuck, a bit like Scooj which I use as my pseudonym. The letters CONRICO are dominant in this piece and are influenced by the katakana alphabet, and float over a stunning landscape of a snow-clad volcano (Fuji?) and cherry blossoms in the foreground. A wonderful piece.
One of the great pleasures of my trip to Cheltenham two weekends ago for the Cheltenham Paint Festival was catching up with Conrico while he was painting a wide piece spanning a bridge. We chatted for quite a while, and I came away with the impression of a really decent man who so utterly enjoys his craft. We talked about all sorts of things like where his name comes from and what his connection with Japan is and so on. Fascinating stuff.
Conrico, Purdown, Bristol, July 2024
This is a gorgeous Japanese scene with a pathway leading up to a small building and a lantern lighting the way. There are ghostly figures sitting on the roof of the structure and nearby, giving the whole thing quite a spiritual feel. Maybe the figures are ancestors. As with much of his work, Conrico has constructed a story and illustrated it beautiful, bringing a tiny little bit of Japan to Bristol.
Conrico has been super-busy lately both painting on the street, and in his studio. He has a fabulous imagination, and much of his art is influenced by the culture of the Far East, in particular Japan. I don’t know what the connection is, but it adds an exotic flavour to many of his pieces.
Conrico, Greenbank, Bristol, July 2024
This is quite an unusual portrait piece, that in contrast to what I have said in the previous paragraph, appears to be of a Central/South American person wearing face paint and with feathers in their hair. Once again, Conrico’s unique can-work gives the impression that the piece has been painted with brushes, and doesn’t have that ‘clinical tight finish that so much street art tends to have. More still to come from Conrico.
Natural adventures 